The True Test
by SteelWingNaru
Summary: Sometimes the true test isn't academic. Rated M for language and lemon-scented fluffiness. First submission, please Read and Review!


(temporarily using a friend's account to post this story)

Hello, everyone! this is my first submission to , so i would appreciate if you would read/review it. This story, as you might notice, is rated M, for language and nice, lemon-scented fluffiness. Without further ado, Enjoy!

~Zeke the Zealot

**The True Test**

"Alright everyone, I want you to study hard this weekend! I'd just _hate_ for one of you to die during the test!" Professor Stein chuckled a little, the bolt in his head clicking as he twisted it.

Yeah, I'm willing to bet he didn't care if we lived or died. If we lived and passed his test, then everyone'll say he was _such_ a good teacher. If we died, then hey, more cadavers for his sick-ass experiments. "So uncool."

"What is it with you and cool things, anyways?" Maka smiled, her long blonde hair pulled into its usual crazy long pigtails. As usual, she clocked me on the head with one of her myriad books before stuffing them into her bag and rising from her seat.

"Hey, I'm a cool guy. Gotta surround myself with other cool things, right?" I said, rubbing the slowly growing lump on my head. Even when she was just messing around, she could hit pretty damn hard. You dont wanna know what it's like when she's pissed off.

"You give yourself too much credit, Soul. Now come on, we're gonna be late!" she called out. I'm not gonna lie, I had no idea what we were gonna be late for.

"Late? Late for what?" If I had forgotten something important, she probably would have bashed me with a book again. I took it as a good sign that I still had all my braincells. As if on queue, she spun around and looked at me, her eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Come on, Soul. Don't tell me you forgot already? We made plans this morning!" Her brows furrowed together in what I guessed was annoyance as I tried my damnedest to remember just what the hell she was talking about. Sweat started to bead at my brow as I prepared for the inevitable Maka Chop, as if that would help me remember what I was trying to remember. With how hard she hit, it was much more likely to give me horrible, horrible brain damage.

With a heavy sigh, she tapped me on the nose with two fingers. I winced, but more in surprise than the violent pain I was expecting. It was about then that I began to suspect something was on her mind.

"Tsubaki wanted the four of us to study together right after school, don't you remember?" Maka frowned a little, looking disappointed. Somehow, that hurt more than a book to the face, though I wasn't sure why.

"Oh, oh yeah, now I remember," I said sheepishly. You know it was bad if I said _anything_ "sheepishly." Somehow I preferred her mad at me. But wait, I hadn't even _done _anything, had I?

"Uh huh. Well come on, they're probably waiting for us." Without saying anything else, she walked off down the hall, clearly intending to leave me behind if I didn't follow her soon. And, while studying sounded like the absolute _worst_ use of my time, dying during the test on Monday sounded like a much worse way to spend the rest of my life. Besides, I definitely preferred Maka happy. She was less violent.

"Hey, wait up!" I called after her quickly catching up to her, hands stuffed into my pockets, as usual. I tried to think of something to say, but from the look on Maka's face, she was kinda lost in thought, so we continued on in silence, walking down the cobblestone streets of Death City to Tsubaki and Black Star's apartment. Maka knocked on the door, and it was like some sorta switch flipped in her big, complicated brain. Gone was all the mopey brooding from before. Now she was all smiles, even going to far as to give Tsubaki a hug when she opened the door.

"You're late!" Black Star called from the other room. I was honestly surprised he didn't try to attack me as we walked in the door. You know, as usual.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Soul forgot we made plans," Maka said. I winced at her tone, it had a bite to it, like she was still mad, even with the smile she showed for everyone else.

"That sounds like him!" Black Star shouted, a huge, childish grin plastered on his face. Without hesitation, a rather large book smacked him right in the face. Not from Maka, who laughed, but from me. I've been working on my aim lately. "OW! What the hell, Soul? It's true!"

"Yeah, yeah," I smirked, my perfectly pointed teeth glinting in the light of the room. I was pleased that Maka laughed, maybe she wasn't so pissed after all.

After helping Black Star to his feet, Tsubaki returned my projectile book and ushered us to the table, ever acting as the mediator. The four of us opened our books, pulled out note books, and began studying.

I don't know if you know this about me, but studying is not my strong suit. There's nothing cool about staring at a book and writing down things in another book. It's dull, repetitive, and boring. So needless to say, studying did little to hold my attention for long. The groans and sighs getting progressively louder across the table from me told me that Black Star was feeling the same way.

"Uuuuuugh... this is sooo boooooring!" The blue haired one said, hitting his head on the book in front of him. "Sooooooul... lets go watch TV!"

"Uh, I dunno, we're supposed to be studying," I whispered, looking over at Maka. She had a frown on her face, but really, it just looked like she was concentrating really hard. Black star whined loudly, sounding kinda like a sick puppy.

"Pleeeeeeease Maka? This is so stuuuuupid!" he whined, thrashing around as if the thought of studying any longer was causing him physical pain. I'd say his melodrama surprised me, but this was pretty normal for him.

Maka's brow creased further, again looking like she was trying to concentrate, her jaw set and her eyes glued to the page before her. "...Whatever," she growled, not even moving.

"YAHOO! C'mon Soul!" With a tug that would rip a less cool person's arm off, I felt myself hurtling behind Black Star into the other room, where their surprisingly huge TV was kept. To this day, I have no idea where they got the money for both the TV and cable. Maka and I prefer to eat now and again, so there's no way we could get one of our own.

But damnit, it was a great TV. Made a guy feel cool just watching it.

Black Star grabbed the remote, flipping through channels at a rate of a few hundred per second, finally coming to a stop on an episode of Family Guy. Of course Family Guy would be Black Star's favorite show. He wasn't the sharpest meister in the box, that's for sure, but hey, it was better than that Jersey Shore crap.

"Oh, wait a sec! I think Jersey Shore's on!" he shouted, immediately diving for the remote again.

Of course.

So there I sat, braincells killing themselves out of pity as I watched a bunch of muscled, over-sexed orange men basically take turns having sex with just about anything that moved, including the equally orange, short, and bitchy women living with them, who also had sex with anything that moved.

"So, have you slept with her yet?" Black Star asked nonchalantly, as if it was a perfectly logical question. I could feel the heat flood my face as I blushed, not just a little shocked at how suddenly the question came up.

"Wait, what? Maka? No!" I shouted, perhaps a little louder than I intended to. In my defense, I didn't exactly expect to be talking about my sex life with Maka and Tsubaki _in the other room._

"Well, have you kissed her yet at least?" he asked, his eyes still tracking the action of the strange orange people on the screen.

"No! We're just friends, Black Star!" and I meant that. We _were_ just friends, nothing else. But... I had thought about what it would be like to be... more. But she didn't seem to like the idea, so I didn't even ask.

"Girls like a guy that's straight forward, Soul! Like me!" he grinned, finally turning away from the mind-murdering show on the TV screen. "You gotta just tell her how ya feel, then grab her by the shoulders, like this!" Suddenly I was on my feet, standing on the couch with him, his hands gripping my shoulders like vices. "Then smooch her!" he pursed his lips, making some gross sort of sound with his mouth, his eyes clamped shut. I'm not proud of it, but I panicked. I bitch slapped his blue-haired face so hard, he fell over the back of the couch and smashed his face into the floor. But, being Black Star, it'd take a lot more than that to keep him down. Like a pistol shot, he jumped up, fist up and ready to fight.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" he shouted, fire in his eyes.

"I should ask you the same thing! That was so not cool, man!" I shouted right back, glaring at him as I hopped off of the back of the couch, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "You tried to kiss me!"

"What? I did not! I was just showing you _how!_" he yelled once more, slapping my hand away.

"Yeah? Well I don't need your-" I started, but was cut off by the sound of the front door creaking open. All animosity gone, both Black Star and I scrambled over to the door of the TV room, cracking it open and peeking through, fighting each other quietly for a place to see more clearly from. After we were finally situated, (I knocked Black Star on the floor and stepped on his back to keep him there) we finally saw who had come to visit. Death the Kid, complete with his entourage of Patty and Liz. We both groaned audibly. Why the hell was _he_ here? Black Star started to say something, but I stepped on his back to silence him. They had started talking.

"Thanks again for inviting me, Maka. Sorry I'm so late," Kid said, his tone even, a slight, cocky smile on his face as he spoke. God, what I wouldn't give for the chance to beat it off of him right now.

"Oh, it's no problem. I was a little late myself," Maka said, smiling at him. They talked a little longer, but I couldn't hear it. Black Star had decided he needed to breathe, so his panting and gasping was making it a little hard to focus on much else.

"Hey, do you have anything to drink?" Liz asked Tsubaki, taking off her jacket and hanging it on the wall hook behind her.

"Oh! Yes, of course, just over here, in the kitchen" Tsubaki said, ever the good host.

"YAAAAAY! SODA!" Patty squealed, her jacket bouncing off of the wall as she flew into the kitchen, dragging Tsubaki and Liz along with her, leaving Kid and Maka alone. At first, all was well, they just sat and studied for a while. But then something happened.

"Have I ever told you how perfect you are, Maka?" Kid said without preamble. Even from here I could see color creep into Maka's cheeks.

"What?" she asked, clearly surprised. I could feel the blood start to rush faster through me, my heart beating faster with each word.

"You're perfect, Maka... the way you part your hair is exactly the same on both sides, there's not a thread out of place on your coat... It's enthralling, really," he said, his eyes half lidded. Maka's face burned darkly, clearly embarrassed by the situation. But at this point, I didn't care. It felt like my blood was on fire.

"Oh, uh... thanks, I guess," She stuttered quietly. She gasped when Kid's hands rested lightly on her shoulders, her cheeks flaring even darker. I gulped hard and bit my lip, the faint taste of blood in my mouth.

"Maka..." Kid said, slowly growing closer to her, his eyes flitting closed. I couldn't watch any more. I felt almost blind with fury and what I later realized was jealousy. The door flew open as I rushed out of the apartment, being absolutely sure to slam Kid with my shoulder on the way out.

"Soul!" I heard Maka, Kid and Black Star shout in unison, their cries cut off as the door slammed shut behind me. My fists clenched so hard, my hands bled. My blood pumped so fast my chest hurt. I was on fire. 'So what if she wants to kiss Kid?' I told myself. 'It doesn't matter. We're just friends.' I told myself I was pissed off for another reason as tears stung my eyes. It's not like I liked her anyways. How could a cool guy like me like someone like her?

I was angry at myself. Angry that I couldn't come up with a good reason to be angry. By the time I got home, the tears had stopped, but I was still filled with rage. My hands were sore and bleeding, but that was the least of my worries at that moment. I all but kicked the door open, not even caring if it closed behind me, and flopped lifelessly on the couch, all my energy suddenly gone. It was like someone had carved out all my emotions and replaced it with the one picture of Kid less than an inch from her, Maka's eyes wide with confusion and surprise. I was empty except for that one recurring scene. It was driving me bat-shit crazy, but I didn't have the will to think about anything else.

Until, of course, I had no choice.

The door behind me clicked shut quietly, followed by the ever so slight chime of a bell.

"So not cool..." I mumbled, already knowing what was coming.

"What's wrong Soul, nyan?" Blair purred, perched, still in her cat form, on the back of the couch, staring down with her wide yellow eyes.

"Nothing. Im fine," I managed, forcing myself to sit up and look somewhat normal.

"You don't soooooound fine, nyan." she hopped down onto the couch beside me, nuzzling up against my hand. I jerked it back, wincing in pain. "You're bleeding?"

"It's. Fine." I growled softly, trying to shoo her away, but she had already transformed. She had, of course, forgotten to put on clothes again.

"Pumpkin Pumpumpkin..." That stupid chant... I turned away from her, my cheeks red in embarrassment again as I tried to avoid looking at her. It was extremely uncool for her to be constantly naked... I swear she did it on purpose, just to get a rise out of me... So to speak.

"There! All better, Soul!" she purred again, kissing the palms of my hands. I blushed again, taking them back and taking a look. Sure enough, they weren't bleeding anymore.

"Th-thanks, Blair," I said, still being completely sure to not look at her.

"Of course, Nyan. Soooo... Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" she asked, sitting on her knees and leaning even closer. I could feel the warmth coming off of her body. It was just a little disconcerting.

"It's noth-" I started, but she cut me off with a single finger pressed to my lips.

"Don't lie to a girl, Soul! We know when you're lying!" she smirked, grabbing my chin and turning me to look her in the eye, and winked.

"Alright! Alright. Just let go!" A frown crossed my face, but she let go, so I again turned away from her and began to recount my story. It didn't help, talking about it. All that happened was that I almost made myself bleed again.

"Then he grabbed her by the shoulders, and..." I started, but couldn't continue. The feelings of rage were coming back, and it was getting hard to think straight again.

"I see, nyan..." Blair said thoughtfully, still uncomfortably close to my arm. I tried not to think about it. "You liiiike her, don't you, Soul?"

There it was again, that stupid blush. Why the hell did I blush anytime anyone ever said anything about Maka? "No! We're... We're just friends!" I shouted. The words had been said so many times, they literally started to taste bad in my mouth. I didn't want to have to say them ever again.

"Now, sure, nyan. But you don't want it to stay that way," she purred, smiling cattily, as if she knew something I didn't. "Do you, Soul?"

"I-!... I don't... I dunno," I whispered, unable to say anything more. It was all so damn confusing.

"This is what you're gonna do. When Maka gets home, you're gonna go up to her, and you're gonna apologize," she began, leaning forward even closer. "And you're gonna tell her exactly how you feel. Trust me."

"I-... Fine. I'll do it," I mumbled, done with the conversation. Anything to get her to leave. Or put some clothes on.

"Good boy!" she giggled girlishly, leaning forward and pressing her lips against my cheek in an innocent (well, as innocent as getting a kiss from a naked woman can be) gesture.

"Oh. Sorry to interrupt." My heart sank. I hadn't heard the door open, and Maka had chosen the exact wrong time to come in. She had completely misread the situation. But how could she have seen it any different? Here I was, a naked cat-turned human kissing my cheek with her boobs pressed against my shoulder.

"Maka, wai-" my words were cut off Maka's door slamming shut behind me. Blair, to her credit, looked worried and even apologetic, but that wasn't any solace. I looked at Blair, asking her what to do with the deathglare in my eyes. All she did was point at the door, transform into a cat, and bound away.

"Yeah... Thanks," I growled, nervous and angry at myself again. I gulped heavily, climbing over the back of the couch, and lightly knocked on her door. "Maka?"

"...What, Soul?" She replied. It sounded to me like she was fighting tears and was very, very mad. Ignoring my better judgment, I opened the door and stepped in, for the second time looking sheepish. She glared at me as if she were looking at a roach, and lay face-first into her pillow.

"We need to talk," I said as calmly as possible. I wouldn't normally admit it, but Maka scared me when she was like this.

"We don't need to talk about anything, Soul. I just wanna sleep," she mumbled. I could barely hear her through her pillow.

"Yeah we do, Maka. We have to talk about, well, us," I said, gulping nervously again. I took my chances, sitting at the foot of her bed, her leg only a few inches away. She sat up abruptly, a fire in her eyes.

"What about us, Soul? I saw you and Blair!" Tears shined in her eyes. At any other time, she would look kinda cute.

"You don't know what you saw!" my teeth grit together, I could feel my heart start to race again.

"Oh yeah? Then what did I see, Soul?"

"The same thing I saw with you and Kid!"

"...You saw that..?" the fire left her eyes almost immediately. I struck a chord somewhere, I guess.

"...Yeah. I saw everything," I mumbled, looking away. Somehow I came in trying to cheer Maka up, and here I was, getting angrier and angrier.

"Soul, I-"

"Don't say it, Maka. I know what I saw. You kissed him, didn't you?"

"Soul-"

"Maka!" I shouted, teeth clenched. Any more angry, and I'd cut my hands again. This time I'd just let 'em bleed, too.

"...Yeah." she whispered, looking down at her hands clasped neatly in her lap. There they were, the stupid tears stinging at the back of my eyes. She kept talking, trying to explain herself, but I couldn't hear her.

"-oul, I promise, I don't feel that way about him! I don't- Ah!" she gasped as my hands flew to her shoulders, tears slowly dripping down my cheeks. She winced as my hands tightened around her slender shoulders. Even though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she was getting hurt. But I couldn't stop, not now. She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off, my lips pressed roughly against her own. Not the coolest way to get your first kiss, but given the circumstances, I'd say it was allowable.

My eyes were clenched closed, tears still finding their way free and staining Maka's cheeks. Some of the tension in my fury-wracked body melted away against her lips as I felt her go limp against me. Neither of us kissed back. After a moment I let her go and pulled away, standing up and turning towards the door. She was in shock, the look on her face said so, her eyes unfocused and her body limp. Satisfied and angry, I grabbed hold of the door handle and turned to leave.

"Soul! Wait!" It seemed she had broken free from her mind-numbed state. I turned back to her, one last frustrated tear streaming down. She sat there, red-faced, her chest rising and falling with each panted breath. She had one hand held out to me, begging me not to go.

"What, Maka-" I had planed to continue, but it was her turn to cut my words short. With a jump from the bed, she pinned me to the door with a thud, her lips meeting mine desperately, almost as if she needed them to survive any longer. As far as either of us could tell, we remained there for an eternity, kissing each other for the first time, holding the other as close as possible and unwilling to let go for even a second. When finally we had to breathe, our eyes met, tears shining in hers as she looked up at me.

"I'm sorry, Soul... I'm so sorry..." She buried her face in my chest, sobbing quietly. It was all I could do not to join her, but one of us had to be strong, so I wrapped my arms around her small shoulders, holding her close.

"It's not him, Soul... It's not Kid. I don't like him like that," she stuttered, her tears still flowing freely, totally soaking my jacket. "I like... um, someone else..." I felt my eyes harden a little.

"Who?" Great, I thought, someone else to be jealous of. Seriously, how uncool can a guy get?

For the first time that night, Maka smiled, lightly kissing my cheek and wiping away her tears. "You, Soul. It's always been you."

There it was again, that stupid blush. I really would like to find a way to damage just the part of my brain that allowed a person to blush. The world would be a better place. But, at the moment, I had more pressing matters to attend to. I hadn't said anything, and Maka had started to nervously ramble again.

"I was talking with Tsubaki about it and she said that I should just tell you my feelings and I said 'no way! What if he doesn't feel the same way?' and she said-"

"Maka."

"Y-yes?"

"Shut up."

"O-okay!"

Being the strong, cool guy I am, I lifted her up into my arms and kissed her again. She blushed and squirmed at first, but finally gave in, her arms wrapping around my neck as she kissed me back. We silently made our way over to her bed and sat down on it, her smaller form still sitting in my lap as we kissed, both of us afraid to speak and neither of us sure what was about to happen.

Almost by accident, she shifted a little in my lap, and my fingers grazed the soft, untouched skin of her belly, sending shivers down her spine, a small sigh escaping her lips. Our eyes met, and we knew, then, what was going to happen next.

Her lips met mine again, hungrily, as my fingers brushed lightly at her skin again. Slowly, more carefully than I had done anything else, they moved higher up her belly, tiny shivers making her quiver beneath my touch. It was strange and exciting, the effect something so simple had on her. Unthinking, my hand continued to rise and explore, when suddenly I no longer felt skin under my palm, but a soft fabric. My hand closed gently around it and squeezed, and suddenly Maka cried out, biting my lip, hard.

"Ow!" I winced, pulling away from her as she blushed, looking up at me apologetically, her green eyes looking worried and nervous. "What was that for?"

"Hey, you're the one that grabbed my-..." she started. Once again, I had proven how clueless I was. I didn't even realize I had just grabbed her boobs! I turned away and quickly stammered out an apology.

"Your..? Oh man! I'm so sorry! That was so uncoo-"

"Soul?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

When I looked back at her, her face was dark red, her sweater vest and shirt laying in a crumpled mass on the floor next to the bed. Her hands, now free of her gloves, were clasped in her lap, just over her skirt. She looked utterly adorable.

"Well... Are you coming or not?" she demanded. That earned her a pointy-toothed smirk.

Without saying a word, I dove at her, gently knocking her onto her back and kissing her roughly, she gasped, but quickly kissed back, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. She tugged at my jacket a moment, and it took me a sec to catch on.

"Oh yeah, okay. One sec," I said, sitting up and turning away from her. I'm still not sure why, she was already pretty much naked. What else was there to be embarrassed about? Before I could even start to undress, I noticed her arms wrapping around my chest, her lips lightly grazing the nape of my neck. Her fingers wrapped around the zipper of my jacket and quickly tugged it down.

"Maka, calm down, will ya?" I laughed softly as she pulled the yellow jacket away, starting to unbutton the shirt underneath.

"I... I can't..." She whispered, forgetting the buttons and grabbing the bottom of my shirt, tugging it up and over my head. Her warm, soft fingers gently ghosted along the skin at my back before she forcefully twisted me around to face her, hesitating when she saw the long, jagged scar all across my chest.

"Maka..." I whispered, trying to comfort her. She looked close to tears again. She quickly shook them off and instead leaned close, pressing her soft lips against the center of my chest, right on the scar. This time it was my turn to sigh, pleasant little chills moving down my spine as she kissed the sensitive, new flesh there.

"I'm sorry, Soul..." she whispered again, placing her hand on my cheek and pulling me into another kiss. Without another word, I pushed her back onto her back, my hand immediately finding her chest. She winced and shivered again, her brow furrowing in concentration. I squeezed it ever so slightly, and finally, I heard something. A little, high-pitched squeak escaped her lips, her knees bending together a little.

Satisfied, I gently kissed her again, planting a small trail of kisses from her lips down to the side of her neck, just loving all the little sounds she made when I kissed her here, squeezed her there. I sat up, looking down at her as she slowly crossed her arms over her chest, glaring up at me as I just smirked back down at her, surveying my handiwork.

"I think we need to get rid of some of this," I said, smiling genuinely down at her. I slid back from her, kissing her just over her belly button once before grabbing the hem of her skirt slowly pulling it down and over her hips, knees, and finally her feet, though she was still wearing her boots.

"Sooooul..." she whined, clearly embarrassed, but I didn't want to stop just yet. I grabbed one boot, pulling it off, quickly doing the same to the other. Once I had her socks off, I smiled up at her, planting a small kiss on the top of one foot, then the other. She blushed darkly again and her knees pressed together protectively.

"That's better," I said, winking at her. Slowly, ever so slowly, I crawled back up to her, kissing from her belly button up to her chest, and from her chest to her neck, nipping her soft flesh with my sharp teeth. Finally I heard her gasp again. She looked up at me, nervous and embarrassed, so I kissed her, lightly at first, more passionately after time went on. She moaned again as my fingers gently slid up under her bra, gently feeling the small globe hidden underneath.

"Ngh... Soul... Soul stop..." She whimpered, sounding reluctant. I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice as I pulled away from her enticing lips, but it was harder than I expected.

"Stop? Why?"

"Because..." she started, biting her lip and looking apologetic. She winced and groaned again, my hand hadn't left her yet. "Because... I don't want to go too fast yet... What if something happens and it's awkward between us forever?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but realized, sadly, that she was right. With a reluctant sigh, I pulled my hand away and pressed a light kiss on her lips again, sitting up on the foot of the bed.

"You're right. You're always right, Maka," I mumbled, finally. I turned to her and winked, rising to my feet. "Err, Good night then, I guess." I started towards the door, about to leave, when Maka's hand on my wrist stopped me.

"Wait, Soul!" She gulped. It looked like what she was about to say would be the hardest thing she's said all week. "Can you... Will you stay with me tonight?"

I was stunned still, almost unable to think, my mouth hanging open a little. I must have looked totally uncool, because even with her cheeks bright red, only her underpants keeping her from being totally nude, she giggled quietly.

"Is it really that surprising?" she asked, scooting to the side and patting the bed beside her.

I shook my head. "No... Well okay, maybe a little," I admitted, laughing a little myself. I slowly climbed into bed next to her, turning to face her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. She flushed a little darker and smiled, pulling the blanket over the two of us. My lips just grazed the nape of her neck as she pressed her back to my chest, snuggling up close.

"Soul?"

"Yeah, Maka?"

"Thanks... Thanks for everything."

I laughed softly again, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Anytime, Maka. Sleep well, okay?"

"Okay..."

She fell asleep quickly, perfectly content. It didn't take long for me to follow her, kissing her neck one last time before sleep.

"Anytime, Maka..."


End file.
